Time for zero tolerance of bad policies

Ethel Channon, Gazette Columnist

The Associated Press reports that lawmakers in many states are looking at revisiting the zero tolerance limits on drugs and weapons set by schools in response to the war on drugs and school violence.

Texas is one of the states.

Lest anyone wonder that I advocate permissiveness in schools, let me say that possession of illegal drugs and real weapons must be punished vigorously. I don’t think students need to have their cell phones at school, nor should Valentine’s Day deliveries be allowed.

But some school officials across the nation have rendered some goofy judgments under the guise of zero tolerance, and not just in California where weird stuff usually happens. Zero tolerance usually means expulsion for the remainder of the school year.

In one grade school, a boy was expelled for bringing a plastic knife to cut cookies. In another, a high school student whose mother packed a small knife in her lunch turned the knife into school officials when she discovered it; she too was expelled. Elementary school graduates who affixed plastic soldiers to their mortarboards out of respect to the troops at war were required to remove them before the ceremony. A senior who had a yearbook photo shot while wearing chain mail and carrying a sword—he was a re-enactor of medieval events, and other hobbyists were allowed to show their interests—initially was not allowed to have that photo in the annual. It went in after he sued the school district.

In a different school, a boy was expelled for giving his cousin a cold pill both had been prescribed. An adolescent girl was expelled somewhere for taking a Midol for cramps because she didn’t clear it with school officials. Aspirin and any other over-the-counter remedy were verboten, even though drug dogs never would have sniffed them out.

I remember when my nephew—clever devil—got into a lockbox where a small pistol was kept and took it to elementary school for show and tell. His older brother found out and confiscated it, keeping it in his pocket all day. That was one of numerous childish actions that caused gray hair to sprout from his mother’s head. She didn’t live to see it, but his girls are making him pay for his raisin’.

I also remember when my best friend and I made a small but functional guillotine for extra credit. We took it to school on a city bus. The bus driver found it pretty clever, but I don’t remember that it helped our grade that much. Our English teacher could have given Madame DeFarge a run for her money.

It’s probably true that for every kid who’s gone inadvertently afoul of zero tolerance policies, several others went unnoticed. Perhaps some even brought in truly dangerous drugs and weapons. We know school officials have thwarted numerous plots to mimic school shooters.

But adults should be able to exercise judgment better than their young charges.

Many school officials don’t seem to know how to do that when it comes to zero tolerance. Lawmakers think judging infractions on a case-by-case basis is a start.

Punishment should fit the crime, especially when no crime has been committed.